This year marks a century since Charlie Parker Jr., one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, was born. To mark the centenary, Z2 Comics — the publisher behind the upcoming graphic novel Grateful Dead: Origins — is teaming with jazz scholar and cartoonist Dave Chisholm to tell the real-life story of Parker's time in Los Angeles in a new graphic novel, Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California.

Named for his 1947 standard, the book will begin with the arrival of Parker, affectionately known as "Bird," and Dizzy Gillespie in L.A. in late 1945, with the two bringing the sound of East Coast jazz — which is to say, bebop, the jazz genre Parker was integral in the creation of — to a residency in Billy Berg's iconic Hollywood jazz club. It was the beginning of a two-year stay in California for Parker, which combined personal hardships and professional highpoint, including both being committed to a mental hospital for six months and recording some of his most groundbreaking work, including "Ornithology" and "Relaxin' at Camarillo," the latter a reference to his hospital stay.

from www.hollywoodreporter.com